Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Killer Inside Me (2010)


Directed By: Michael Winterbottom

Rating: R

Runtime: 109 minutes


"The Killer Inside Me" is not for the faint of heart. This film is raw, bloody, and downright grisly. My initial attraction to watching the film was the cast line-up, including Casey Affleck (Lou Ford), Kate Hudson (Amy Stanton), Jessica Alba (Joyce Lakeland), and Simon Baker (Howard Hendricks). 

In its opening scene, we are introduced to the small town of Central City in west Texas during the 1950's - a town of little consequence, where everyone knows everyone... or so they thought. Introduce Lou Ford, played by Casey Affleck, the seemingly do-gooder sheriff deputy who holds a deep dark secret - he's a psychopathic masochistic raving lunatic serial killer! A man with way too many issues to even attempt to unravel and explain, Lou commits a series of murders that appear too convenient and clean for out-of-town detective Howard Hendricks, played by Simon Baker. The victims? A prostitute and the Construction Magnate's son. Appearing as a love to hate relationship that went seriously seriously wrong, Hendricks isn't convinced that the killing was the case of mutual mayhem. As the clues come together, the evidence begins to point to... sheriff deputy Lou Ford. 

In what would appear as a case of clean-cut guilt that should have led to Ford getting the death penalty, we are left wondering how the law is so dysfunctional in this small town and how the hell does this man continue killing? With a beginning that was full of such intrigue and gruesome visuals that made me cover my eyes, the film lost something in its pace. I think it began to drag and left us with the repeating visuals of the 1950's town setting, which if you ask me my opinion, didn't feel much like the 1950s aside from the old-fashioned cars that were parked on the streets. 

Affleck did a commendable job in his role playing Lou the predator. For such an unassuming young man, I was terrified of Lou within the first 30 minutes of the film. What I do not understand is how a man can get away with such leniency and manage to play the system to the degree that he does. Are we to assume that all small towns have a backwards judicial system where people can get away with murder in broad daylight, where they chase their victim down only to have a fellow police officer shoot the victim, for example? "The Killer Inside Me" began as a film with working potential, but managed to fall short of its initial hype. 

Thumbs DOWN 

2 comments:

  1. Hey great review, lots of important detail and really makes me want to go watch it. 4 stars! followed, hopefully you do the same

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  2. Another helpful review! I, on the other hand, will have to pass on this one. Thank you The Movie Pitch. :)

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